Part 1
The cattle prowled and the coyotes howled
Out on the Great Divide
I never done no wrong, just singing a song
As down the trail I ride
The rattlesnakes rattle at the prairie dogs
Don’t you hear that mournful tune
For its roundup time away out West
When the cactus are in bloom
Daylight comes and the cowhands yell
They call out ev’ry man
I throw my saddle on my old cow horse
I drink my coffee from a can
The sun goes down on the cattle trail
I’m gazing at the moon
For its roundup time away out West
When the cactus are in bloom
We don’t have cold weather
It never snows or rains
That is where the sunshine’s best
Out on the western plains
Some of the boys have gone away
But they will be back soon
For its roundup time away out West
When the cactus are in bloom
– Bill Monroe (Traditional)
circa 1986
A lot had happened in the prior twenty six years, or maybe not very much at all. But that’s how long it had been since I was last in the Wind River Range. If I recollect it was in August in the year of 1986 when I was there with that ol’ Desert Mountaineer feller. It pretty much rained for a solid week. The tent leaked like a sieve, and we got a real ass soakin’ and only made it up a few small peaks on the west side of Titcomb Basin. You can read all about that trip on this site in the tale called the Soggy Mountain Boys. Surely now I was older, weaker, with dimmer eyes, and less hair, but maybe a bit wiser. This 2012 trip started like most of them do these days; with months of planning beginning soon after we got back from the last trip.
Preparation…
This year’s team was bigger than customary, but as usual was filled by great and wonderful company. We surely had enough talent assembled to win a Nobel Prize, had we put our collective will towards it. I had started to wonder some time back if a gang of six was going to be too unwieldy, but in the end it turned out to be just fine. Everyone got along with each other really well, and there was no pressure to do this or that, and we could break into separate groups in order to do our own thing if wanted. It’s kind of interesting reflecting on how people get ready for these trips however. I can’t vouch for everyone, but I know that Renee and I are what I would refer to as, training junkies. I have stated in the past that we may actually like training for climbing, better than the climbing itself. I don’t know if that’s really true, but we sure do train a lot. Living in the suburbs in the flat Midwest we do have a distinct disadvantage to training for alpine events. This particular year the training efforts were not nearly as focused or intense as in previous years. We ran, cycled, pushed iron, climbed in the gym, and did some “Gym Jones‟ style workouts (not enough of the latter). We could have done lots more, and probably should have, but life tends to get in the way sometimes. I even added some horseback riding to the mix; but more on that in a bit. Interestingly enough, I don’t believe the rest of our little band, trained near this hard (or at all) yet they seemed to fare just fine without it. It must be that they come from hardier stock.
Several areas had been bandied about as suitable destinations for our trip, and after much deliberation eventually we had it short-listed to just two. As you have probably gathered by now the Wind River Range in Wyoming won out. One of the big attractions to this area also happens to be one of the major drawbacks as well; and that is the very long approach required to reach it. It’s a major testament to the beauty of the area that so many people make the effort. It really is spectacular and offers delights to backpackers, fisherman, and climbers alike.
As we were planning on being there for a week, and also wanting to do some technical climbing, it was going to mean a lot of weight. The bulk of it would mostly be consisting of climbing gear and food. The food, partly because of purported bear activity in the area, and partly due to regulations, needed to be properly stored in bear canisters. This in itself added weight, and limited the amount and type of food that could be fit in one of these gosh darn contraptions. None of us found the twenty two kilometre approach laden with twenty five kilo packs very enticing. There surely had to be a better way…. and indeed there was. Andrew had wondered aloud if we could hire porters as they do in the Canadian Rockies and other such places. I didn’t think so, but the next immediate thought was; what about pack animals? Right away a light bulb went on… Wyoming is totally Cowboy country. There are horses everywhere in that state. I even dimly recalled seeing horses on the trail the last time I was there. Some quick searching on that new-fangled googlewebbynet thing yielded some promising results. Within a short time we had arranged for a horse packing outfitter to haul all of our gear into a base camp. Now as it turned out, one thing led to another, and one of the options the outfitter offered besides a gear drop was what is called a spot pack. That means, not only does a horse carry your gear, but a horse also carries you…. yeehah… now we are talkin’ pardner.
(In addition to them thar’ bear cans and the usual camp gear we had 2 ropes, 2 small racks, rock shoes, helmets, harnesses, assorted slings, and ice axes. As additional support gear we had a first aid kit, 2 GPS units, 2 cell phones, and paper maps and compass. We brought no crampons, and there was no need for them. In fact the ice axes ended up only being used for latrine duty. )
a man and his kit
It just so happened that some of our gang was, equine averse. I have inside information that a mischievous horse known only as Stan was partially the cause of this, but that is for another tale. Out of the six of us, only three decided to take the opportunity to ride in. I enjoy horseback riding, but certainly am not very experienced and don’t make the opportunity to do it that often; so that required attention as well. I added some riding excursions and lessons to my training plan. This was a very good move on my part, yet far from really adequate preparation as you will soon hear.
To be continued…